2009/09/23: BBC: Climate change – where the centre leadsThis week sees a series of meetings that could create the right conditions for achieving a new global treaty on climate change. In the Green Room this week, three senior political figures from Latin America – Jose Maria Figueres, Juan Mayr and Marina Silva – argue that middle-income nations such as theirs are leading the way. “The industrialised world has failed to cut its own emissions sufficiently to grant either moral authority or practical advantage in this discussion”

2009/09/22: IPSNews: Japan, China Pledge to Act on Climate ChangeWhen the one-day summit meeting on climate change ended late Tuesday, only Japan and China were singled out for their concrete commitments to battle one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges. Asked for an assessment of the summit, David Waskow, spokesperson for Oxfam International, told IPS: “Everyone played nice at the climate summit tea party, but only Japan and China showed up with cake.”

2009/09/22: CNN: Leaders to focus on climate change at summitWorld leaders to converge in New York to focus on climate change – Negotiations for a global pact have stalled, gathering aims at jump-start talks – Goal is to limit temperature rise to within 2 °F above that before industrial revolution – Leaders expected to discuss how climate change affects energy, food security, trade

2009/09/22: ABC(Au): Climate change negligence will lead to ‘benign genocide’An alliance of the world’s small island states have issued a joint plea to global leaders to take drastic measures to combat climate change or be complicit in what they say is “benign genocide”. Leaders from the island states of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas have met in New York ahead of the UN summit of world leaders on climate change. The islands have issued a communique in which they have demanded global financing for adaptation and mitigation.

2009/09/22: SciDaily: Current Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions Pledges Leave Climate Targets In The Red, Analysis FindsTotal greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions currently proposed by industrialized countries fall short of the pathway to reaching a 2 degree target as referred to by the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol negotiating group, despite the fact that the cost of meeting these pledges is much lower than anticipated, according to a new study. The study by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) states that by 2020, total GHG emissions of industrialized (Annex I) countries would decline by between only 5% and 17%, relative to 1990, depending on the conditions associated with the pledges. The aggregate proposal falls short of the 25-40% range referred to by negotiating Parties in 2007.

2009/09/22: G&M: China vows ‘practical steps’ on climate changeAt the U.N.’s highest-level conference yet on climate change, China on Tuesday pledged ambitious plans to plant enough forest to cover an area the size of Norway and use 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources within a decade. Chinese President Hu Jintao also promised “determined and practical steps” to boost its nuclear energy, improve energy efficiency and reduce “by a notable margin” the growth rate of its carbon pollution as measured against economic growth.

2009/09/22: BBC: Global firms seek climate dealA group of more than 500 international companies has urged the United Nations to agree a strong new climate deal to help combat global warming. The group called for “immediate and deep” cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, as world leaders meet at the UN in New York for climate change talks. The companies are members of the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change.

2009/09/26: EarthTimes: Leaders agree to phase out fossil-fuel subsidiesWorld leaders have agreed to phase out 300 billion dollars worth of fossil-fuel subsidies as part of a plan to reduce global warming, US President Barack Obama announced Friday at the conclusion of the Group of 20 summit. Obama said the plan is designed to help move away from polluting sources of energy and bring the world into the “21st-century energy economy.”

2009/09/25: Reuters: G20 agrees to phase out fossil fuel subsidies-draftThe Group of 20 will agree to phase out subsidies on oil and other fossil fuels in the “medium term,” but will not set a firm timetable for the move aimed at combating global warming, a draft statement said. The G20 will also intensify efforts to reach a U.N. deal on climate change later this year, said the draft communique obtained by Reuters at a G20 summit in Pittsburgh. The leaders will ask their finance ministers to come up with a range of options for climate finance — payments from rich countries to poor countries dealing with global warming — at their next meeting. The final version of the communique will be issued by the leaders at the end of their two-day meeting on Friday.

2009/09/24: BBC: Leaders gathering for G20 summitWorld leaders are meeting in the US city of Pittsburgh later as the two-day G20 summit gets under way. Economic stability, financial regulation, climate change and bankers’ bonuses are set to top the agenda.

2009/09/22: G&M: Climate change crack-up?As world leaders gather to discuss climate change at the United Nations and the G20, the Europeans have begun to finger the United States as the bad guy. Noting that the Americans have been refusing to sign up to internationally binding carbon emission targets, EU officials are also unhappy that Congress is unlikely to enact legislation in time for December’s Copenhagen conference.

2009/09/20: Reuters: Australia plans Copenhagen climate pact compromiseDeveloping economies shouldn’t be locked into carbon lowering targets under a new global climate pact, Australia said on Monday, outlining a deal it hopes will avert failure at make-or-break talks in Copenhagen. The plan by the world’s biggest per-capita carbon polluter would give India and China flexibility to lower emissions through a “national schedule,” potentially taking some of the heat from near-gridlocked talks between rich and developing countries.

2009/09/25: FTimes: An idea whose time has comeAs addictions go, the world’s addiction to fossil fuels is a killer. US President Barack Obama has a big idea on how to help the world kick the habit: the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies globally, amounting to over $300bn every year.

2009/09/23: WaPo: Obama wants worldwide end of fossil fuel subsidiesPresident Barack Obama is calling on the world to end massive government subsidies that encourage the use of fossil fuels blamed for global warming. The president, who is set to host the G-20 economic summit opening Thursday in Pittsburgh, will propose a gradual elimination, with the time frame to be determined, according to White House officials. “Later this week, I will work with my colleagues at the G-20 to phase out fossil fuel subsidies so that we can better address our climate challenge,” Obama said Tuesday at the United Nations global warming summit.

2009/09/23: NatureCF: Planetary boundariesDespite the apparent stress that humanity is causing to the Earth system, defining sustainable limits for our own existence has proved to be something of an intractable problem. But what if we could define global sustainability numerically?

2009/09/23: Eureka: Lasers from space show thinning of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheetsThe most comprehensive picture of the rapidly thinning glaciers along the coastline of both the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has been created using satellite lasers. The findings are an important step forward in the quest to make more accurate predictions for future sea level rise. Reporting this week in the journal Nature researchers from British Antarctic Survey and the University of Bristol describe how analysis of millions of NASA satellite measurements* from both of these vast ice sheets shows that the most profound ice loss is a result of glaciers speeding up where they flow into the sea. The authors conclude that this ‘dynamic thinning’ of glaciers now reaches all latitudes in Greenland, has intensified on key Antarctic coastlines, is penetrating far into the ice sheets’ interior and is spreading as ice shelves thin by ocean-driven melt. Ice shelf collapse has triggered particularly strong thinning that has endured for decades.

2009/09/25: BBC: Recession barely dents ‘eco-debt’The recession has had little impact on humanity’s over-consumption of resources, says a report. The New Economics Foundation (Nef) calculates the day each year when the world goes into “ecological debt.” This is the date by which humanity has used the quantity of natural resources that ought to last an entire year if used at a sustainable rate. This year, “ecological debt day” falls on 25 September – just one day later than in 2008.

2009/09/25: Guardian(UK): World consumption plunges planet into ‘ecological debt’, says leading thinktankConsumption exceeds Earth’s annual ‘biocapacity’ today amid warnings of dependence on overseas food and energy Rich consumers are still voraciously gobbling up the world’s resources, despite the worst recession in a generation, with their appetite pushing the planet into “ecological debt” from today , according to a report by think-tank the new economics foundation. This “ecological debt day” marks the point in the year when consumption around the world exceeds the Earth’s annual “biocapacity” — so for the remainder of the year, we will be eating into environmental resources that will not be replaced, according to nef’s calculations. Andrew Simms, nef’s director, said the deep recession had delayed this “ecological debt day” by only 24 hours compared with last year, when it fell on 24 September. He warned that as G20 leaders gather in Pittsburgh to discuss global finance, there is a risk that the world economy will be kick-started again, without learning the lessons of the “consumption explosion”.

2009/09/25: CanWest: Canada signs on to Arctic shipping alerts — Initiative seen as boost to sovereigntyCanada plans to bolster its presence in Arctic waters — and by extension, its sovereignty over the region — after agreeing to join Russia and Norway in providing weather and shipping alerts in the rapidly melting region. The move is part of a new maritime-safety initiative headed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and two other United Nations bodies. The Arctic Ocean safety system, to come into effect in 2011, was announced Thursday by the WMO, the International Maritime Organization and the International Hydrographic Organization.

2009/09/24: BBC: S Korea agrees Tanzania land dealSouth Korea says it has agreed to develop farmland in Tanzania – the latest in a series of such deals between rich and poor nations. Korean officials say 1,000 sq km (386 sq miles) will be developed – half for local farmers, half to produce processed goods for South Korea. Seoul also signed a deal last year to lease a vast area of Madagascar. Rich countries have increasingly sought farmland in poorer nations to help shore up food supplies. Countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Kuwait are short of arable land and have been seeking agricultural investments in Africa.

2009/09/26: BBC: Dozens dead in Philippine floodsAt least 40 people have been killed and thousands more evacuated as floods caused by heavy rain brought chaos to the Philippines, officials say. One town is said to be completely under water. Power has been cut off to parts of the capital, Manila, where hundreds of people are trapped on rooftops. The government has declared a calamity, allowing access to emergency funds.

2009/09/27: BBC: Philippines battles flood chaosA massive rescue operation is under way in the Philippines where at least 73 people are confirmed to have been killed in the wake of torrential rains. Tropical Storm Ketsana triggered the worst flooding in decades in the capital Manila and nearby provinces.

2009/09/22: SciDaily: Current Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions Pledges Leave Climate Targets In The Red, Analysis FindsTotal greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions currently proposed by industrialized countries fall short of the pathway to reaching a 2 degree target as referred to by the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol negotiating group, despite the fact that the cost of meeting these pledges is much lower than anticipated, according to a new study. The study by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) states that by 2020, total GHG emissions of industrialized (Annex I) countries would decline by between only 5% and 17%, relative to 1990, depending on the conditions associated with the pledges. The aggregate proposal falls short of the 25-40% range referred to by negotiating Parties in 2007.

2009/09/21: BBC: Recession and policies cut carbonThe global recession and a range of government policies are likely to bring the biggest annual fall in the world’s carbon dioxide emissions in 40 years. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global CO2 emissions will fall by more than 2% during 2009.

2009/09/24: SwissInfo: Man “not to blame” for early carbon emissionsThe question over who — or what — caused an increase in CO2 emissions thousands of years ago has dogged climatologists for years. Now Swiss scientists have an answer. Some researchers have argued that ancient farmers could be to blame for a noticeable rise in greenhouse gases 6,500 years ago as they cleared primordial lands for agriculture. As it turns out, man had nothing to do with it, scientists argue in Thursday’s issue of Nature.

2009/09/22: CBC: B.C. pine beetle plague may be near end: ministerAfter more than a decade of devastation, B.C.’s Forests Minister says the plague of the Pine Beetle may finally be over. “If you look across the province of British Columbia now, the pine beetle is really on the decline. Unfortunately, that’s as a result of it running out of food at this point,” minister Pat Bell told reporters at the legislature in Victoria Tuesday. The pine beetle infestation has ravaged nearly 25 per cent of B.C.’s pine trees, turning vast swaths of once-green forests into a rusty brown.

2009/09/22: CanWest: Pine beetle epidemic is over: B.C. ministerThe mountain pine beetle epidemic is over, B.C. forests minister declared Monday. But it’s not because the beetles have been defeated. Rather, they have run out of trees, and that heralds a whole new set of problems, Pat Bell told the Vancouver Board of Trade.

2009/09/22: Reuters: Natural disasters displacing millions – U.N. studyFloods, storms, drought and other climate-related natural disasters drove 20 million people from their homes last year, nearly four times as many as were displaced by conflicts, a new U.N. report said on Tuesday. The study tried to quantify for the first time the number of people forced to flee their homes because of climate change. Global warming is increasing the frequency and intensity of storms and otherwise altering weather patterns, so disasters are now “an extremely significant driver of forced displacement globally”, it said.

2009/09/24: CBC: California fire threatens homes, agricultureFire crews have launched heavy air attacks to halt the spread of a Southern California wildfire that has chewed through more than 645 square kilometres of bone-dry brush, threatening hundreds of homes. Firefighters focused early Thursday on the fire’s eastern and western flanks just north of Moorpark, about 65 kilometres northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The fire was 40 per cent contained late Wednesday and is expected to be fully contained by Saturday.

2009/09/23: CNN: California fire began in mulch pile, investigators sayFire that has burned nearly 10,000 acres began in mulch pile, officials say – Arson is a possible cause of Guiberson Fire, official tells reporters – CalFire official says he hopes blaze can be contained by Saturday morning – Four firefighters treated for smoke and heat-related injuries, released from hospital

2009/09/25: SMH: Water wars forecast as feeding India’s hungry leaves the land thirstyFarmers who can no longer irrigate fear nothing will be left to drink, writes Matt Wade. India is destined for water wars, one of its leading environmentalists has concluded after studying the effects of modern agriculture for more than 20 years. “In a decade India could look like Darfur in Sudan,” says Dr Vandana Shiva, a nuclear physicist turned environmental activist. “When you run out of water it’s a recipe for killing. Water really makes people so desperate.”

2009/09/23: CNN: Mother recalls night flood changed everythingFlash flood rips family home off foundation and leaves 2-year-old boy dead – Mother clings to tree for six hours, clasping her other son to her chest – A serene creek was transformed into an 18-foot-deep torrent – A community rallies around the family, trying to make sense of it all

2009/09/22: CNN: Flood dangers not over for GeorgiaGeorgia death toll rises to 8; most caught in cars in floodwaters, governor says – Five people swept away by floodwaters on Tuesday commute, later rescued – Those killed Monday in Georgia flooding include 2-year-old swept from father’s arms – Governor declares state of emergency in 17 hardest-hit counties

2009/09/21: CNN: Floods kill 4 in rain-soaked Atlanta areaAt least four others missing in Georgia; one presumed dead in Tennessee – At high school near Atlanta, standing water keeps students from leaving – 300 people in Trion, Georgia, evacuate homes amid fears levee might fail – Hundreds of roads are closed, official says; schools closed in at least four counties

2009/09/20: TerraDaily: Turkey agrees to up Euphrates flow to Iraq: BaghdadTurkey has agreed to up the flow of water along the Euphrates river to Iraq for a month, Baghdad said Saturday, amid tensions between the two sides over distribution of the precious commodity. The agreement came after talks in Istanbul involving Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and Turkish Environment Minister Veysel Eroglu, following a months-long war of words between Baghdad and Ankara.

2009/09/23: CBC: Carbon capture called ‘sheer folly’ — Says it’s too early to adopt technologyA report released Wednesday dismisses a technology that is a cornerstone of Canada’s climate change policy as “sheer folly.” The report, written by Edmonton Journal columnist Graham Thomson for the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, concludes investing in carbon capture is currently too risky as neither the proper science nor the proper laws are in place.

2009/09/23: SciDaily: Cleaner Coal Plants May Use Pressurized Combustion System To Capture Carbon DioxideResearchers at MIT have shown the benefits of a new approach toward eliminating carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions at coal-burning power plants. Their system, called pressurized oxy-fuel combustion, provides a way of separating all of the carbon-dioxide emissions produced by the burning of coal, in the form of a concentrated, pressurized liquid stream. This allows for carbon dioxide sequestration: the liquid CO2 stream can be injected into geological formations deep enough to prevent their escape into the atmosphere

2009/09/21: NYT: Refitted to Bury Emissions, Plant Draws AttentionNew Haven, W.Va. – Poking out of the ground near the smokestacks of the Mountaineer power plant here are two wells that look much like those that draw natural gas to the surface. But these are about to do something new: inject [15 to 30% of] a power plant’s carbon dioxide into the earth

2009/09/23: PhysOrg: Expert [David Keith]: Lift taboo on Earth engineeringThe effects of climate change are so uncertain and potentially long-lasting that policymakers should begin examining options that include geoengineering, an area that has so far been off-limits, according to a former Harvard researcher who is now a professor at the University of Calgary, Canada.

2009/09/24: UN: UN maritime chief calls on world leaders to agree on global warming treatyNo one is immune to the impact of climate change, the head of the United Nations maritime agency warned today in a message urging world leaders to reach agreement at an international conference aimed at firming up an effective greenhouse gas reduction pact in December. “Mankind is on the horns of a dilemma,” stressed Efthimios Mitropoulos, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

2009/09/21: EurActiv: EU lists industries exempted from carbon tradingExperts from the 27-member bloc agreed on a list of industries ranging from plastics manufacturing to iron and food processing that will be largely exempted from CO2 trading after 2013 for fears that their inclusion would move production abroad. National experts agreed on a list of 164 sectors deemed to be at risk of relocating their activities to foreign countries that have not adopted greenhouse gas emission restrictions similar to the EU’s. The threat is dubbed “carbon leakage” because industries and their related polluting emissions would simply move abroad without any benefit for the environment. The list, covering the most carbon-intensive industries such as steel, cement and chemicals, represents 77% of the total manufacturing emissions under the EU’s emissions trading scheme (EU ETS). These will continue to get a higher share of their emission allowances (EUAs) for free after the EU ETS has been revamped in 2013, after which date the power sector in the EU-15 will be obliged to pay for all its permits.

2009/09/25: PlanetArk: Schwarzenegger: Ready To Work For Obama, Go GreenCalifornia Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is ready to put his star power to work for President Barack Obama on the environment when his own term ends next year, the former movie actor said on Thursday. Republican Schwarzenegger is arguably the biggest environmentalist in his party and razzed Washington, which is struggling to pass climate change legislation and prepare for international talks, for wrangling with other countries over global warming goals rather than setting an example. “Did we say China, you go first with human rights, and we will follow you? No. We led,” he said in an address at the Commonwealth Club lauding his state’s climate change plan, which is the most aggressive in the nation.

2009/09/24: Reuters: California sets biggest energy efficiency planCalifornia said it had approved the most aggressive energy efficiency plan among U.S. states on Thursday, earmarking $3.1 billion to retrofit homes and other programs that will cut power needs equivalent to three medium-sized power plants. Conservation and efficiency have become national buzzwords as the economy has failed, since such investments have some of the quickest paybacks of any in ‘green’ industries.

2009/09/20: SF Gate: California plans to levy greenhouse gas feesMore than a year after Bay Area air pollution regulators became the first in the nation to charge businesses for pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the program has raked in close to $1.7 million. And as early as this week, the state may follow suit by imposing similar fees on large California polluters as part of an ongoing effort to cut greenhouse gases 20 percent by 2020. The proposed program from the California Air Resources Board and the fledgling regional effort are designed to use the fees to pay for measuring, monitoring and studying the emissions blamed for global climate change.

Defections from the Chamber of Commerce over global warming policy are becoming downright embarassing:

2009/09/23: NYT: Utility Quits Alliance Over Climate ChangeAmid a growing split in the business community over climate policy, Pacific Gas and Electric, a major California utility, is withdrawing from the United States Chamber of Commerce, citing “fundamental differences” with the chamber’s approach to global warming.

2009/09/23: Kentucky: EPA says state must re-evaluate power plantState regulators must take another look at the permit they granted for a new unit at a coal-fired power plant near Maysville that began operating last spring, the federal Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday. The permit granted to East Kentucky Power Cooperative’s Spurlock No. 4 unit lacks the hazardous air pollution emission limits required by the Clean Air Act, the agency said.

2009/09/23: NYT: Big Polluters Told to Report EmissionsThe Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday that it would require the nation’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases to start tracking their emission levels on Jan. 1 and report them to the government. The E.P.A. said the reporting would cover roughly 85 percent of the greenhouse-gas emissions in the United States linked to global warming. The new rules would require 10,000 industrial sites and suppliers of petroleum products to submit the data beginning in 2011. Suppliers of fossil fuels will be asked to estimate how much carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases are emitted when the fuels are burned by businesses and consumers in buildings and cars, the agency said.

2009/09/21: NYT:CW: Boxer Readies for Climate Bill Introduction, Mid-Oct. MarkupThe Senate climate debate has largely been in standby mode since June, but Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is ready to kick-start the process with the release next week of a draft bill. Sources off Capitol Hill say they expect Boxer to start legislative hearings during the week of Oct. 5, with a tentative markup penciled in for the week of Oct. 12.

The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

2009/09/24: BBC: Bid to protect England’s top soilA strategy to protect the health of England’s soils and ensure they continue to store carbon dioxide, will be published by the government later. Experts say good soil not only produces strong crops, but is an effective store of carbon, and can reduce flooding by absorbing rain and river water.

2009/09/21: BBC: Climate deal in peril, says BrownThe climate deal planned for Copenhagen in 10 weeks’ time is in grave danger of failure, the prime minister has said. Gordon Brown has become the first world leader to offer to go to the Danish capital to help seal the deal.

2009/09/24: BBC: EU in tussle over CO2 emissionsThe European Commission is considering pursuing a legal fight with the EU’s top court over management of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). On Wednesday the European Court of First Instance annulled commission decisions which sought to cut the CO2 emissions quotas of Poland and Estonia. The court defended the right of EU states to set their own CO2 quotas.

2009/09/25: ABC(Au): Flower power fights Port Augusta stationOrganisers of a ‘climate camp’ at Port Augusta this week say they will be delivering 350 flowers to the local power station tomorrow as part of a demand for the coal-burning plant to be shut down. It represents the maximum level for a safe climate of 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

2009/09/21: ABC(Au): Climate plan will fail, says BrownGreens leader Bob Brown has slammed the Government’s new plan to reach an international agreement on climate change as a “race to the bottom” that has “failure written all over it”. The Government has proposed giving developing countries more flexibility to gradually reduce emissions instead of being bound by a target.

2009/09/21: ABC(Au): Rudd changes tune on climate billGovernment insiders in Canberra are ramping up talk of a possible double dissolution election to be fought on emissions trading. The Senate voted down the Government’s emissions trading bill in August and if the same thing happens when the bill returns in November, it could be used to trigger a double dissolution.

While in India:

2009/09/25: SMH: Water wars forecast as feeding India’s hungry leaves the land thirstyFarmers who can no longer irrigate fear nothing will be left to drink, writes Matt Wade. India is destined for water wars, one of its leading environmentalists has concluded after studying the effects of modern agriculture for more than 20 years. “In a decade India could look like Darfur in Sudan,” says Dr Vandana Shiva, a nuclear physicist turned environmental activist. “When you run out of water it’s a recipe for killing. Water really makes people so desperate.”

2009/09/24: TStar: U.K. journal [Lancet] slams Canada on climateCanada is caught in a leadership void as it lags behind other countries on world poverty and climate change, says the editor of the influential British medical journal The Lancet. Ottawa’s foot-dragging is part of a “catastrophic” global failure to act, Dr. Richard Horton said yesterday as his call for Canada to step up was published online.

2009/09/24: CanWest: Provinces, states criticize Harper’s climate-change planThe numbers won’t add up in the Harper government’s proposed climate-change plan unless it fixes flaws that jeopardize the plan’s credibility, say some of North America’s largest provincial and state governments. The Western Climate Initiative – a coalition of governments that includes Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba and California – says a draft version of a federal “offsets” system for rewarding green practices must be revised to prevent businesses from profiting from actions that don’t actually reduce the amount of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.

Rajendra Pachauri called on Canada to do more:

2009/09/21: CanWest: ‘Canada should be doing much more’ on climate change, expert [IPCC head, Rajendra Pachauri] saysCanada should be doing much more to tackle climate change, and consider closing down the oilsands projects in northern Alberta, the head of an international scientific panel on climate change said Monday. Canada should follow the European Union, which has pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, said Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In contrast, Canada’s plan is to only cut emissions by 20 per cent below 2006 levels by 2020, a target that many scientific and environmental observers say is far too low. Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions climbed 26 per cent between 1990 and 2006. “In the last couple of years, I’m afraid, Canada has not been seen as sitting at the table,” Pachauri said in an interview in Montreal on Monday. “I think Canada should be doing much more.”

In the always ‘interesting’ matter of Canada-US relations:

2009/09/25: CanWest: Political friction rises as Canada clashes with U. S. over energyAt last count, besieged federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice was confronted by 28 American states or U. S. cities which have drawn a line in the oil-soaked sands of northern Alberta, vowing to reduce or eliminate Canada’s “dirty oil” from their fuel supply. And that’s not even his biggest American headache. That’s reserved for two dozen states that have declared Canadian hydroelectricity unacceptable as a “renewable” energy source to help meet new cleaner standards as they rush to encourage homegrown alternatives to coal-fired power. On the horizon — if a massive energy bill in the U. S. Senate passes as written — is a White House that has the power to impose unilateral carbon tariffs on Canadian imports which fail to meet its green litmus test. Cleaning up the act between Canada’s major oil export market and America’s top energy supplier — without sacrificing quality of life or hurting the economy — has opened a Pandora’s Box of political friction points along the border.

Ontario has it’s Green Energy Act, now comes the implementation:

2009/09/25: CBC: $5.4M wind turbine project blows Windsor’s wayA U.S. wind turbine manufacturer has announced a $5.4-million deal to begin production in Windsor, Ont. Michigan-based WindTronics will produce small residential and commercial turbines at the former Innovatech Seating Systems plant on Sprucewood Avenue on the city’s west side. It will also conduct research and development. The Ontario government will contribute $2.7 million to help WindTronics establish its Windsor operations. WindTronics will invest the balance. The company hopes to create 174 jobs at the plant by 2012, but WindTronics president Reg Adams said there will also be “work in the installation process.”

2009/09/22: TStar: Ontario bets billions on wind powerProvince plans a massive boost to its electricity grid — a move that would put the province among North America’s green leaders Ontario’s power grid is getting a $2.3 billion makeover as part of an ambitious, three-year effort to create 20,000 jobs and bring more green electricity to homes and businesses across the province.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

2009/09/23: CBC: Carbon capture called ‘sheer folly’ — Says it’s too early to adopt technologyA report released Wednesday dismisses a technology that is a cornerstone of Canada’s climate change policy as “sheer folly.” The report, written by Edmonton Journal columnist Graham Thomson for the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, concludes investing in carbon capture is currently too risky as neither the proper science nor the proper laws are in place.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

2009/09/22: WpgFP: Wind farm out of breath — St. Joseph project uncertain after firm liquidatedManitoba’s new wind farm — Canada’s biggest — is facing more delays because its original financial backer is broke, and national wind advocates say the recession has cramped the booming wind industry. Babcock & Brown, the Australian investment firm that was financing the new wind farm, is being liquidated by creditors and has sold off its North American wind power division, including Manitoba’s project, to an American investment firm. Construction on the 300-megawatt wind farm near St. Joseph is already a year behind schedule and it’s not clear when work will start.

And for your film & video enjoyment:

It’s been a busy week in the courts:

2009/09/25: CDreams: Activist’s ‘Necessity’ Defense May Get the BootA federal judge is expected to hear arguments Friday detailing why environmental activist Timothy DeChristopher should be allowed or prohibited from presenting evidence he acted out of “necessity” when he deliberately bid on and won oil and gas leases he couldn’t pay for as part of a protest.

2009/09/25: Yahoo:AP: Judge averse to global warming trial in Utah caseA federal judge said Friday he’s reluctant to put global warming on trial in the case of a Utah college student charged with disrupting a federal oil and gas lease auction for parcels near several national parks. U.S. District Judge Dee Benson gave attorneys for Tim DeChristopher a month to file briefs saying why they should be allowed claim he was acting in the interest of the greater good.

In the EU, the European Court of First Instance annulled Commission decisions on Polish & Estonian CO2 quotas:

2009/09/24: EarthTimes: EU’s emissions targets are ‘non-negotiable,’ commission saysThe European Union’s limits on emissions of greenhouse gases are “not negotiable,” a spokeswoman for the bloc’s executive said Thursday, the day after the European Court struck down the limits for Estonia and Poland. National limits on the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2, the gas most linked with global warming) are “set and are normally not negotiable,” European Commission spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich told journalists in Brussels. Her comment came a day after the European Court in Luxembourg annulled the commission’s proposed caps on industrial emissions in Poland and Estonia, saying that the Brussels-based executive did not have the right to overrule national governments.

2009/09/24: BBC: EU in tussle over CO2 emissionsThe European Commission is considering pursuing a legal fight with the EU’s top court over management of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). On Wednesday the European Court of First Instance annulled commission decisions which sought to cut the CO2 emissions quotas of Poland and Estonia. The court defended the right of EU states to set their own CO2 quotas.

2009/09/23: EarthTimes: EU court scraps Brussels cap on Polish, Estonian emissions [EU pol & courts]The European Union’s executive was wrong to impose a tight cap on industrial greenhouse gas emissions in Poland and Estonia and will have to scrap the limits it sought to impose, the EU’s court in Luxembourg ruled Wednesday. The two separate judgements comes at a critical time in EU climate talks, as rich and poor member states are grappling over the question of how they should fund the fight against climate change and how much each of them should pay.

In the USA, the Second Circuit ruled on the Connecticut v. American Electric Power case:

2009/09/21: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Court Holds Power Companies Accountable for Their Carbon PollutionIn a landmark ruling, the federal court of appeals in New York ruled today in favor of states and private land trusts that had sued America’s largest global warming polluters to curb their emissions. The case is called State of Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co., and the long-awaited ruling was issued today by a panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. (One judge was appointed by the elder President Bush; the other by the younger.) The appeals court ruled that five large electric power companies can be sued in federal court because the 650 million tons of carbon dioxide they emit each year are contributing to rising temperatures and a host of damaging impacts in other states, including heat waves, smog episodes, droughts and forest fires. The case was brought by the attorneys general of eight states and one city (CT, NY, CA, IA, NJ, RI, VT, WI and NYC) and by two private land trusts. The case will now go back to the federal district court in New York City for trial.

2009/09/24: BBC: Oil price slumps on supply dataOil prices have fallen sharply as weak US home sales data and high US oil inventories prompted doubts about a potential recovery in fuel demand. US light, sweet crude fell $3.08 to $65.89 a barrel while London Brent crude slipped $3.17 to $64.82.

2009/09/22: WSJ:EnvCap: Clean-Energy Grants: Iberdrola Wins Big, AgainWhen it comes to clean-energy grants from the U.S. government, it’s déjà vu all over again. That is, Spain’s Iberdrola was again the big winner in the second round of government grants for wind farms: Iberdrola scooped up $251 million of the $550 million awarded today. The grants cover three Iberdrola wind farms in Iowa, Texas, and Missouri.

2009/09/22: WpgFP: Wind farm out of breath — St. Joseph project uncertain after firm liquidatedManitoba’s new wind farm — Canada’s biggest — is facing more delays because its original financial backer is broke, and national wind advocates say the recession has cramped the booming wind industry. Babcock & Brown, the Australian investment firm that was financing the new wind farm, is being liquidated by creditors and has sold off its North American wind power division, including Manitoba’s project, to an American investment firm. Construction on the 300-megawatt wind farm near St. Joseph is already a year behind schedule and it’s not clear when work will start.

2009/09/25: DallasNews: Houston to get state’s largest solar plantNRG Energy Inc. will build the state’s largest solar array in Houston and sell all of the power it makes to the city. NRG plans to spend $40 million to build a 10-megawatt solar plant on land near a natural gas plant that the company operates, NRG and the city said Thursday in a news release. That is one small and expensive power plant. But building one of the first such plants in Texas allows NRG to study the technology and decide whether to install more solar arrays.

2009/09/22: PhysOrg: Biofuel from Corn StoverHow much corn crop residue, or stover, can be removed for biofuels without harming soil? An Agricultural Research Service (ARS) study of a 10-mile circle around the University of Minnesota’s Morris campus offers some clues

2009/09/24: Reuters: California sets biggest energy efficiency planCalifornia said it had approved the most aggressive energy efficiency plan among U.S. states on Thursday, earmarking $3.1 billion to retrofit homes and other programs that will cut power needs equivalent to three medium-sized power plants. Conservation and efficiency have become national buzzwords as the economy has failed, since such investments have some of the quickest paybacks of any in ‘green’ industries.

2009/09/25: BBC: GM to develop Indian electric carUS carmaker General Motors (GM) has said it is to develop a small cheap electric car for India. The carmaker will develop the model in partnership with India’s Reva Electric Car Company, and said it expected production to begin next year.

2009/09/21: GulfTimes: The age of electric vehicles is upon us [Jeffrey Sachs]The key to climate change control lies in improved technology. We need to find new ways to produce and use energy, meet our food needs, transport ourselves, and heat and cool our homes that will allow us to cut back on oil, gas, coal, nitrogen-based fertiliser, and other sources of the climate-changing greenhouse gases

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

2009/09/24: EnvFin: Economy fails to derail CDP responseDire economic conditions did not dissuade companies from voluntarily disclosing climate change risks and mitigation strategies, as a record number of top corporations replied to an annual survey conducted by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)